Da Nang cooperates with Japan to renovate dioxin contaminated soil

Da Nang Department of Natural Resources and Environment cooperates with Kitakyshu University (Japan) to improve soil contaminated with dioxin into cultivated land.

On September 10, the Office of Da Nang City People's Committee said that the City leaders agreed to cooperate with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to cooperate with Kitakyushu University (Japan) to study and survey the project 'Improving dioxin contaminated soil to cultivate land, while ensuring hygiene in Da Nang urban area '.

Japanese tourists visit images of Agent Orange victims at
Da Nang Photo: HC

The project is scheduled to be deployed in the Da Nang airport area, which was formerly a US military base, where herbicides loaded with dioxin to be sprayed elsewhere.

It will build an incinerator of Agent Orange / dioxin contaminated with gas with the scale of 2.4 tons / day; building a system to disintegrate organic waste into gas for use in dioxin incinerators.

Earlier, according to the US Embassy press release in Hanoi, on October 1, the US Government announced a $ 1.69 million environmental project to support Vietnam's isolation and trial. treatment of dioxin contamination at Da Nang airport under the cooperation agreement of the two governments in early 2009.

After completing stage 1 with the removal and burial of soil and sediment contaminated with dioxin in safe landfills to eliminate the possibility of dioxin exposure to humans and the environment, the next phase will practice centered on the destruction of dioxin.

According to the results of the research of the Ministry of Defense of Vietnam conducted from 2000 - 2004, the average content of dioxin in Da Nang airport is 35ppb TEQ (parts per trillion) - 35 times higher than permitted for Non-agricultural land is regulated in the United States.

Research results of Hatfield Environmental Consultant Company (Canada) also showed that the highest level of dioxin contamination in soil samples at Da Nang airport was 365ppb; In the blood sample of people living near the airport, it is 1,220 ppt and of two other residents living in the surrounding area about 600 ppt, many times higher than the allowable levels of dioxin in humans of industrialized countries. world.

The dioxin contaminated area in Da Nang airport has been built with a barrier to prevent the spread of toxic substances into the environment.